www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

2 Red Admiral and a single Speckled Wood in my area this morning.

Denise

6 species of UK butterfly still battling on today (Nov 4th) in Switzerland. I couldn't photograph the red admirals, but the rest are:

Queen of Spain fritillary...



... those two look a little world weary, but there were fresher ones too:



... adonis blue ...



... common blue ...



... wall brown ...




... and clouded yellow.



And just for interest, here's my dog next to a remarkable trompe l'oeil in Branson. The two humans, the window and even the pavement are simply painted onto the wall (look at the bottom right, next to the artist's signature if you don't believe it):



Guy

Remarkable, Guy!

That's the butterflies and the trompe l'oeil.

You can almost hear the hiker: "Is this the way to Gurnigelbad?"

Bryan

OK - next year I'm going to go to Gurnigelbad and drink a beer at the Gurnigelbad tavern and send you some piccies, Bryan! It's quite a long trip on public transport for me, but if you punch it into Google Earth you'll see it actually looks quite good for meadow/woodland butterflies. Frankly, it doesn't look the most obvious place to hunt for femmes chaudes...

Guy

PS - Sorry to sabotage your thread, Denise. It's Bryan's fault. Now let's have some more November butterflies!

Sorry, Denise!



Bryan

Comma, large white and red admirals in Bath over the weekend.

Simon

Guy,

In what stage do the Q of Spains hibernate in Switzlerland? My Collins suggests it can overwinter in any stage which must be very ususual for a butterfly.

Jack

A single Speckled Wood today(6th).


Gruditch

One Red Admiral (a bit battered) flying today at Gibraltar Point.

jackharr wrote:Guy,

In what stage do the Q of Spains hibernate in Switzlerland?

This is a very good question, Jack! The Swiss literature itself is unsure, though my assumption had been that it hibernated as a chrysalis. This year, however, it seems to have been continuously brooded in the Rhône Valley. I saw my first on 3rd February and that included some very worn ones, so they had clearly been flying in January. I have seen them every month since, in good numbers. I will be checking again in December!

I think perhaps it doesn't have a true diapause stage and just goes torpid in whatever stage it is when the cold weather comes. In 2006-7 there wasn't any cold weather so it just kept flying.

Guy

That makes it all the more surprising that Q of S hasn't suceeded in colonising the milder, almost frost free, parts of coastal S England.

Perhaps Q of S might be better thought as having a life style more analagous to Red Admiral than the other fritillaries?

Jack

I agree, Jack - it's a bit of a mystery. But the British status of Q o S has remained pretty constant over the years - "rare migrant" - so I guess there's a reason why our shores are not favourable to the species as a resident.

This picture was taken 3rd Feb this year, when all the books say no Queens of Spain should be flying anywhere in Europe (in fact, there shouldn't really be any butterflies about!):



Guy

A solitary red admiral on the wing in a sheltered, sunny area at Thorpe Underwood, near York, today.

A single Red Admiral braving the breeze today and a most unusual sight of a Comma feeding on cut up apple that I had put out for the birds.

Someone in my local wildlife group saw a Holly Blue in Marshfield today.

Denise

Two days ago (11th November) I saw a very active red admiral crossing the road (no puns please) in Longwell Green, near Bristol.

yesterday I saw around 17 red admirals at Mountstewart going at quite a speed most of them.

This appeared in the garden this morning. It did not hang around for long, only enough time to get a quick snap.
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Dave

A Peacock sunning itself on the gravestones in Mill Rd Cemetery at lunchtime. Didn't have the camera with me!